- Gianfranco's Newsletter
- Posts
- Gianfranco's Best of December 2023 Reading List
Gianfranco's Best of December 2023 Reading List
Gianfranco Filice
December 31, 2023
My favorite articles from December 2023:
Welcome to the December 2023 edition of my monthly reading list, where I share the best pieces I've discovered in AI, economics, leadership, venture capital, and life. These resources have been instrumental in shaping my thinking and perspectives over the last month, and I hope they provide you with the same.
Artificial Intelligence
How to think about the OpenAI Q* rumors (Understanding AI)
This article delves into OpenAI's rumored Q* project, which is speculated to involve integrating large language models with AlphaGo-style search techniques. This integration aims to enhance general reasoning abilities, potentially leading to significant advancements in AI problem-solving capabilities. The piece also discusses the challenges and potential applications of this breakthrough.
Is Anyone Going To Make Money In AI Inference? (Digits to Dollars)
The article explores the burgeoning market of AI inference, positing that it holds a larger commercial potential than AI model training. It draws parallels between AI models and weather forecasting, where only a few create the models but many benefit from their applications, highlighting the broader use and financial opportunities in the AI inference sector.
AI and Everything Else (Benedict Evans)
Benedict Evans discusses the transformative impact of AI, computers, and digital capabilities across various industries. The presentation underscores how technological integration into everyday life is reshaping commerce, society, and individual behaviors, stressing the ubiquity and influence of digital innovation.
Inference Race To The Bottom - Make It Up On Volume? (Semianalysis)
This article examines the competitive dynamics in the market for large language models like GPT-3.5 and GPT-4. It highlights the emerging competition from companies like Mistral Mixtral, Inflection-2, and others, noting the rapid commoditization of AI capabilities and the push towards surpassing the performance benchmarks set by GPT-3.5.
Knowledge Co-Pilots (Generational)
Focusing on the development of AI knowledge assistants, this essay discusses Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and Knowledge Graphs (KG). It emphasizes how these technologies are instrumental in creating more effective and sophisticated AI systems, serving as crucial tools in the evolving landscape of AI knowledge assistance.
Financial Technology
The Token Layer Cake (SyTaylor)
The piece provides an in-depth look at the complex and multifaceted role of tokens in the payment industry. It discusses various types of tokens used in card transactions, including PSP, issuer, and network tokens, highlighting their significance in ensuring security and privacy while adding layers of complexity to the payments ecosystem.
Fintech Lending 3.0 (SyTaylor)
This article delves into the evolution and future trajectory of fintech lending. It discusses the sector's resurgence, the challenges it faces amidst a changing financial landscape, and the potential pathways for growth and innovation, particularly in light of recent industry developments and partnerships.
The Long Shadow of Checks (Bits About Money)
This article explores the extensive historical and ongoing impact of checks within financial systems. It discusses how checks have shaped credit systems, legal frameworks, and the development of subsequent payment methods, revealing their deep-rooted influence in modern financial infrastructure.
Payroll providers, Power, Respect (Bits About Money)
The article offers insights into the crucial and often overlooked role of payroll providers in financial technology. It traces their history as early adopters of computer technology and their complex task of managing withholding taxes, highlighting their foundational role in the financial tech landscape.
Startups
Capital Efficient Businesses (Elad Gil)
This article discusses the importance of capital efficiency in technology businesses. It advises on balancing customer demand, strong business models, and efficient operations, suggesting strategies for when to bootstrap and when to raise funds for scaling, while cautioning against an excessive focus on profitability that could hinder growth.
The Difference Makers: Key Person(s) Valuation (Aswath Damodaran)
Aswath Damodaran's blog post delves into the concept of "key persons" in a business, exploring how their presence or absence can significantly impact a company's value. It emphasizes that key persons can exist at various organizational levels and their impact is often seen in how they affect the business's cash flows and risk profile.
Why Are We Surprised That Startups Are So Freaking Hard (Every)
The piece offers an insightful analysis into the unexpected hardships of building a startup. It contrasts the popular image of startup life with the reality of the intense effort, commitment, and often unglamorous work that underpins entrepreneurial success.
Personal Development
The Mundanity of Excellence: An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers (1989) (Semantic Scholar)
This pioneering sports psychology paper investigates the true nature of excellence in competitive swimming. It challenges the idea that talent alone determines success, arguing instead for the role of qualitative behavioral differentiation and factors such as geographic location, coaching, and motivation in achieving top performance.
How to Recognize What You’re Really, Really Good At (Every)
The article underscores the importance of recognizing and leveraging one's unique strengths and talents for professional success and fulfillment. It shares insights from Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, on understanding his own strengths in founding companies and the realization that his talents were best utilized in early-stage startups rather than scaling them into large entities.
Writers who operate (Lethain)
This article explores the unique perspective and value that writers who also hold industry roles, or "operators," bring to their work. The author argues that these individuals are exceptionally positioned to produce impactful contributions that advance their respective fields through their dual expertise.
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me (Sam Altman)
In this insightful blog post, Sam Altman shares essential wisdom for entrepreneurs. He emphasizes the importance of building strong teams, pursuing bold ideas, understanding the power of incentives, and cutting through bureaucracy, alongside the crucial need for clear communication and rapid iteration.
The Levers that Money Can’t Pull (More To That)
"The Levers That Money Can't Pull" is a reflective piece on the limitations of financial wealth in achieving true happiness and fulfillment. The author shares personal experiences and observations from a community perspective, highlighting the value of relationships and community bonds. (H/T to Michael Bressler for recommending this article.)
Software
Artisans: Taste in Software (Akash Bajwa)
The article discusses the evolving user experience in software design, focusing on features like faster interaction speeds, keyboard shortcuts, and command pallets. These developments are seen as ways software is becoming more intuitive and less mentally taxing for users.
Finance and Economics
Why are your groceries still so expensive? (Noahpinion)
This article examines the persistent high cost of groceries, attributing it to factors such as labor and rent expenses, rather than just commodity prices. It suggests potential solutions like increasing the food supply and addressing industry bottlenecks to help stabilize prices.
You probably shouldn’t give your money to an elite university (Noahpinion)
This piece critically examines the role of alumni contributions in elite universities and how they contribute to class divisions in America. The author, a Stanford alum, discusses how elite institutions favor wealthier students who are more likely to become significant future donors, perpetuating class inequalities.
How Should Higher Education Be Financed? (The Diff)
The article tackles the challenging question of financing higher education. It suggests starting by understanding the purpose of higher education and then working backwards to find innovative financing solutions, while addressing both obvious and subtle issues in the current financing models.
Reply